Riverbank residents can be environtmentally friendly

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Residents of Penas Tanggul, a poor area along the banks of the Cipinang River in East Jakarta, are proving themselves to be environmentally friendly, in the process refuting charges that they are a major cause of the seasonal floods that swamp Jakarta.

All of the houses along this strip of riverbank are built two to three metres away from the river, with their fronts facing the river. This effectively discourages residents from throwing their trash into the river -- an innovative concept that took some encouragement to accomplish.

"Until about a decade ago, many of the houses here stood with their backs facing the river -- to make it easy for their occupants to throw the trash from their kitchens straight into the river," said Sail, a fan repairman who has lived in the area for more than 10 years.

It took time to convince the residents that the changes were necessary, but step-by-step the Penas Tanggul community has in little more than a decade ago developed the 150-meter-long riverbank into a more humane housing area.

"People tend to keep the front parts of their houses clean. So, with our houses facing the river, residents are more disciplined about disposing their garbage," said Mansur, a hawker who comes from Surabaya, East Java, and has lived in Penas Tanggul for 20 years.

Now residents in the community pile their garbage in a small dump and periodically burn it.

The Penas Tanggul environmental management plan consists of three basic steps: planting bamboo along the riverside, disposing of household garbage in a dump rather than dumping it into the river, and building proper toilets.

"Before, we had 'helicopter' water closets -- that is, toilets built of wood with bamboo flooring on which users squat while passers-by can see their heads," he said.

Now there are about 15 walled community water closets, besides those built inside houses.

All of this has been accomplished by the members of the Penas Tanggul community themselves, with assistance from non- governmental organization such as the Institut Sosial Jakarta (ISJ).

Hilarion Haryoko, a member of ISJ who has assisted in organizing the riverbank community since 1990, when the city administration attempted to evict them, said if given the chance people could organize themselves and their communities to become more environmentally friendly.

For years, the community has maintained the river so it remains wide enough to allow water to flow through it unimpeded.

"According to the official building codes, housing along riverbanks has to be at least 10 meters from the river," said Lana Winayanti, an official at the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure.

"However, this is difficult to enforce and the city administration tends to take unfair measures (against violators). They never touch permanent houses while demolishing the makeshift ones," she said.

Furthermore, she said, the administration has failed to give the poor people who live along riverbanks any workable alternatives.

Lana, who has researched the community of Penas Tanggul for her PhD dissertation at the University of Melbourne, said that compared to other riverbank housing areas in Jakarta, Penas Tanggul was one of the best.

In 2000, Erna Witoelar, then minister of resettlement and regional infrastructure, visited the area and proposed it as a pilot project for the Cipinang Bening (Clear and Clean Cipinang) project. But when she was replaced, the project was halted.

"Fortunately, we still benefited from her visit. About one and a half months after that visit, the Cipinang Besar subdistrict head allowed us to establish a neighborhood unit," said Mansur.

Since then, 80 of the 113 families in the neighborhood unit have received family cards, which allow members to receive Jakarta ID cards with addresses in accordance with where their houses are located.

Although they still do not have ownership documents for their houses, they are no longer considered illegal residents.

One recent afternoon, members of the community gathered to discuss the possibility of paying taxes on their houses. "If we pay the taxes, it would be harder for the government to evict us without giving us any compensation," Sail said.